tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post6371968671402774025..comments2024-03-28T06:32:24.557-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: Iraq has become a Theatre of the AbsurdDeuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-7641337886316362552008-05-20T02:20:00.000-04:002008-05-20T02:20:00.000-04:00Conservative David Frum, writing in 1999, captured...<I>Conservative David Frum, writing in 1999, captured the essence of Clintonism better than many liberals:<BR/><BR/>Since 1994, Clinton has offered the Democratic Party a devilish bargain: Accept and defend policies you hate (welfare reform, the Defense of Marriage Act), condone and excuse crimes (perjury, campaign finance abuses), and I'll deliver you the executive branch of government...<BR/><BR/>He has assuaged the left by continually proposing bold new programs--the expansion of Medicare to 55 year olds, a national day-care program, the reversal of welfare reform, the hooking up of the Internet to every classroom, and now the socialization of the means of production via Social Security. And he has placated the right by dropping every one of these programs as soon as he proposed it.<BR/><BR/>Clinton makes speeches, Rubin and Greenspan make policy, the left gets words, the right gets deeds.</I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://socialistworker.org/2008/05/20/clinton-premortem" REL="nofollow">Clinton Pre-mortem</A>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-30231043696729378582008-05-20T02:00:00.000-04:002008-05-20T02:00:00.000-04:00Cheers, Bob. Thanks for the effort.Not much of a ...Cheers, Bob. Thanks for the effort.<BR/><BR/>Not much of a turnout. Where's your cowboy hat?samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-21956684458755965632008-05-20T01:54:00.000-04:002008-05-20T01:54:00.000-04:00I thought you were going to bed?I thought you were going to bed?samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-39826817180016513322008-05-20T01:36:00.000-04:002008-05-20T01:36:00.000-04:00With the help of my daughter I have finally succee...With the help of my daughter I have finally succeeded. grrniteBobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-32463798029407246502008-05-20T01:33:00.000-04:002008-05-20T01:33:00.000-04:00Clinton in Missoula<A HREF="http://picasaweb.google.com/rpalbobal440" REL="nofollow">Clinton in Missoula</A>Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-69127542911497157412008-05-20T01:15:00.000-04:002008-05-20T01:15:00.000-04:00The US intelligence community judges that Iran can...<I>The US intelligence community judges that Iran can briefly close the Strait of Hormuz, relying on a layered strategy using predominately naval, air, and some ground forces. During 2004 Iran purchased North Korean torpedo and missile-armed fast attack craft and midget submarines, making marginal improvements to this capability.<BR/><BR/>Tehran's ability to interdict the Strait of Hormuz with air, surface and sub-surface naval units, as well as mines and missiles remains a concern. Additionally, Iran's asymmetrical capabilities are becoming more robust.<BR/><BR/>These capabilities include high-speed attack patrol ships, anti-ship missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and hardened facilities for surface-to-surface missiles and command and control.</I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/arabian-gauntlet.htm" REL="nofollow">Iranian Capabilities</A>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-6112629376600657702008-05-20T01:09:00.000-04:002008-05-20T01:09:00.000-04:00How about a coalition style opposition? Wonder if...How about a coalition style opposition? Wonder if that'd work?samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-60499708627759254832008-05-20T00:53:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:53:00.000-04:00Nite, thanks.Nite, thanks.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-20154947644968971722008-05-20T00:51:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:51:00.000-04:00So, there we have it, one candidate knows the true...So, there we have it, one candidate knows the true position of Iranian military capacity.<BR/><BR/>Speed boats vs Ships of the Line.<BR/>The Iranian speedboats not even as capable as PT109. Seeing as how they are not torpedo capable.<BR/><BR/>Their airforce amounts to some pre-Carter F4s, they have no anti-satellite capacity.<BR/><BR/>While they have the capacity to close the the Straits for a short period of time, that is of greater economic consequence than military. The threat of US retaliation the greater wildcard in the global economy.<BR/><BR/>The Iranian threat to the US is limited to casualties it can inflict of US troops in Iraq and the economic damage that can be inflicted upon US economic allies, with its' oil exports disrupted.<BR/><BR/>Bob Barr has no chance of victory, in 2008, but can advance the consolidation of the political oppossition to the two existing Parties.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-71574355689945980992008-05-20T00:50:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:50:00.000-04:00Iraq Could Have Biggest Supply Of Oil In Worldgrrn...<A HREF="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article3964957.ece" REL="nofollow">Iraq Could Have Biggest Supply Of Oil In World</A><BR/><BR/>grrniteBobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-50764836285003925022008-05-20T00:46:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:46:00.000-04:00The atmosphere is about 80% nitrogen, maybe someon...The atmosphere is about 80% nitrogen, maybe someone will figure a way to extract energy from that. You can see how little I know.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-53436519385571432372008-05-20T00:44:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:44:00.000-04:00hmmm,--well, there a lot of CO2 floating around th...hmmm,--well, there a lot of CO2 floating around though, maybe.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-83449967949448598702008-05-20T00:42:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:42:00.000-04:00Helium 3, Cash Crop On The MoonThe Lord has put th...<A HREF="http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/helium3_000630.html" REL="nofollow">Helium 3, Cash Crop On The Moon</A><BR/><BR/>The Lord has put this answer just out of current reach, to make us strive for it.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-42710742495414518332008-05-20T00:40:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:40:00.000-04:0045 lbs. of CO2 = 2.5 glns of gas?Doesn't seem like...45 lbs. of CO2 = 2.5 glns of gas?<BR/><BR/>Doesn't seem like a very good return on the face of it.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-27837618972739267312008-05-20T00:39:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:39:00.000-04:00Yeah, possibly so. Knowing zero about chemistry al...Yeah, possibly so. Knowing zero about chemistry all I do is read along and hope for the best. Charles also had an article about an energy source on the moon which I will post now.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-31211725167459521242008-05-20T00:31:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:31:00.000-04:00Bob, this is encouraging news. There is an unlimi...Bob, this is encouraging news. There is an unlimited fuel supply just floating around in the atmosphere that we can use.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-7671986153640965832008-05-20T00:19:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:19:00.000-04:00Nah, just Fry Mumia.Nah, just Fry Mumia.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-46909645726180502692008-05-20T00:16:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:16:00.000-04:00"Fry Mumia And Free The Cuban Five!"<I>"Fry Mumia And Free The Cuban Five!"</I>Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-45517543119686684242008-05-20T00:13:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:13:00.000-04:00Using Sunlight and CO2 To Make Fuel This was poste...<A HREF="http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/S2P" REL="nofollow">Using Sunlight and CO2 To Make Fuel</A> This was posted by Charles at BC and is interesting.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-35854267846342964652008-05-19T23:59:00.000-04:002008-05-19T23:59:00.000-04:00Teresita, if you're not doing anything Saturday..D...Teresita, if you're not doing anything Saturday..<BR/><BR/><I>Date / Time: Saturday, May 24, 4:30 PM<BR/>Location: El Centro de La Raza, 2524 16th Ave South, Seattle<BR/>Sponsored by Native Peoples Alliance with Friends and Allies & NW AIM, Harold Belmont<BR/><BR/>...<BR/><BR/>This event is organized in support and solidarity with the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five.<BR/><BR/>...<BR/><BR/>The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prison, serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami, on June 8, 2001.</I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?JServSessionIdr007=yn4zysp853.app1b&page=NewsArticle&id=9145&news_iv_ctrl=1501" REL="nofollow">Cuban 5</A>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-40193971220524613882008-05-19T23:43:00.000-04:002008-05-19T23:43:00.000-04:00La Passionaria could give a hell of a speech.<A HREF="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPibarruri.htm" REL="nofollow">La Passionaria</A> could give a hell of a speech.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-31699172034538584662008-05-19T23:42:00.000-04:002008-05-19T23:42:00.000-04:00From Doug's link at BC:[...]And so it is very diff...From Doug's link at BC:<BR/><BR/>[...]<BR/><BR/>And so it is very difficult for me to read things like the following, from an August 2003 article in The Guardian by then Labour MP Brian Wilson entitled “Revolution revisited: Cuba isn’t perfect, but it is living proof that it is possible for a third world country to combat poverty, disease, and illiteracy”: “Cuba’s primary service to the world has been to provide living proof that it is possible to conquer poverty, disease and illiteracy in a country that was grossly over-familiar with all three…. The fact that it has been delivered in the face of sustained hostility from an obsessive neighbor [the U.S.] makes it all the more stunning.” Here’s a response to a 2004 PBS documentary on Fidel Castro from a man in Texas, posted at the PBS website: “Everyone below the age of 50 don’t know about the conditions of Cuba before Fidel. When a revolution is successful there is a reason and the reason in Cuba was poverty…. Without the strength of Castro, Cuba will fall into decline searching for a direction and will come under the fold of the United States just as it was in the 40s and 50s.”<BR/><BR/>What’s behind this? Bigotry of the worst sort. It is pure ignorance based on the assumption that unless they have a strong leader like Fidel Castro, Cubans can’t take care of themselves. I call it the Mussolini principle. In the 1930s many Americans and British praised Mussolini because he made the trains run on time, he made those unruly Italians mindful of time and efficient.<BR/><BR/>Travel writers do Cuba great disservice. As an exception, Thomas Swick of the South Florida Sun-Sentinelwrote a beautiful piece, recording the inane comments his fellow travel writers made on their trip (“Our Gang in Havana,” Mar. 24, 2002). The comments sound like they are discussing Rousseau’s noble savage or Kipling’s White Man’s Burden. Sarah Shuckburg, a travel writer for the UK’s Telegraph, writes as follows:<BR/><BR/>“I sit on a bench in a tiny park, and the colour, music and exuberance of old Havana engulf me…. An intoxicating blend of Spanish guitars and African drumbeats drifts from a nearby bar, where an elderly couple is performing an afternoon salsa…. Three barefoot boys in tattered shorts kick a dented can over the cobbles. Bare-chested men exchange jokes as they push barrows of rubble. A grizzled, toothless man approaches me and holds out his hand. I give him a few tiny coins.” (“A little local colour,” Mar. 5, 2006)<BR/><BR/>She thinks of this as praise for the revolution. But where are the sports programs? And the old man is grizzled and toothless because Cubans don’t have any razors or toothpaste. They have awful dental and medical care. Even Castro had to call for a Spanish surgeon to come and save his life.<BR/><BR/>I’ll conclude by letting you think about how Shuckburg summarized her experience in Cuba, based on what we’ve discussed:<BR/><BR/>“Cubans are lucky, with several giants to worship—principled, visionary reformers. Fidel Castro is one of them. There are few photographs of him, and no statues, but for most Cubans, Castro is a living legend who has maintained his communist ideals despite the collapse of communism elsewhere, and despite sanctions and embargoes from the `enemy’ to the north. The Cubans I speak to all share Castro’s patriotism and his distrust of democracy, and are intensely proud of Cuba’s egalitarianism, education, health care and sporting achievements. None of them mention human rights or freedom of expression.”trishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14139410627244875589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-56618401848438559392008-05-19T23:20:00.000-04:002008-05-19T23:20:00.000-04:00On April 1, former Congressman Bob Barr wrote to r...<I>On April 1, former Congressman Bob Barr wrote to rally conservatives across the country to stop liberals from solidifying control of Congress.<BR/><BR/>...<BR/><BR/>Federal law requires a committee like Barr's, once set up, to donate money to at least five candidates for federal office, and to limit donations to any one candidate or committee to $5,000 per election cycle.<BR/><BR/>...<BR/><BR/>Barr, 59, represented northwest suburbs of Atlanta for four terms in Congress after his election in 1994. He gained national attention for his role in President Clinton's impeachment proceedings.</I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/05/19/barrpac_0518.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab" REL="nofollow">Costs Money to Raise Money</A>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-77834015851618024572008-05-19T23:12:00.000-04:002008-05-19T23:12:00.000-04:00Jim Henley on the Libertarian Party convention thi...Jim Henley on the Libertarian Party convention this weekend:<BR/><BR/>[...]<BR/><BR/>If I cared about building the Libertarian Party as an institution, and as a humane movement for shrinking the state rather than a home for conservatives too cranky even for the contemporary GOP, I would hate the prospect of a Barr nomination. But I don’t. So my preferences are entirely instrumental. And Barr’s not a bad guy. He was a pretty principled civil-libertarian for an elected politician. (He voted for the Patriot Act and the Iraq War but has apologized for both.) And he did split with the Republicans formally, unlike the rest of his Contract With America-era cohort.<BR/><BR/>Posted by Jim Henley @ 10:33 pm, <BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Someone's got your number, Rat.trishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14139410627244875589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-49512067477102042092008-05-19T23:04:00.000-04:002008-05-19T23:04:00.000-04:00The study is ascertaining the impact of global war...<I>The study is ascertaining the impact of global warming on the entire UAE coast, according to Dr William Dougherty, senior scientist at Stockholm Environment Institute, the US centre.<BR/><BR/>"Climate change is a fact. It is already happening.<BR/><BR/>It cannot be reversed.</I><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2008/May/theuae_May670.xml§ion=theuae&col=" REL="nofollow">Impact on UAE</A>samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.com